The story touches upon issues such as elder care and financial exploitation of vulnerable individuals by fraudulent entities, both of which are important issues. On one particular Thursday, they bump into Topsy, another ex-colleague, former nursery nurse at the same school, and her daughter Kelly Anne. The book has a lot of characters and subplots and false clues, but the author has tied them all up in the end. Certainly, they want to find out the truth about what happened to Topsy but there’s also a reluctance rather than a supreme self-confidence, a feeling that maybe they shouldn’t be getting involved in things about which they know nothing. Their lives are rather mundane at the start, they have some excitement then go back to normal again afterwards.

They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. His first novel, A Spoonful of Murder, is about retired primary school teachers who turn to sleuthing. In addition to these questions, each of the friends has her own issues that range from needing to lose weight to remembering an old incident that could have resulted in terrible consequences, to dealing with a son who is withdrawn and moody and a grandson who is having trouble in school to name a few.All of this rolls together to create multiple questions that need to be answered, some of which are related to the main plot and some of which are not. Even though her death is ruled accidental, the ladies are sure there is more going on and they nose around and ask questions.

Thelma, is outwardly strong and practical and can always 'find the exact words the other two are fumbling for'. M. Hall, narrator Julie Hesmondhalgh, publisher Avon Books and NetGalleyUK for the opportunity to read and review this charming and enthralling story. In light of Topsy's comments to Thelma, the three friends aren't satisfied that Topsy's death was the simple accident it appears, and begin a surreptitious investigation of their own into the events leading up to what has occurred. Set in the charming village of Thirsk, Yorkshire , when three retired primary school teachers, (Thelma, Pat and Liz), are faced with the suspicious death of a friend, Topsy, they reluctantly take up the task of uncovering the “ordinary evil” lurking beneath the unassuming facade of their quiet and comfortable neighborhood.The style was slow and meandering, especially at first, and I often put the book down, wondering when it would ignite, but each time, I was drawn back to pick it up to read ‘just another couple of chapters’ until I was hooked. We are privy to their thoughts about on their lives, families, and friends (with it often being in parenthesis which is distracting and further slows down the pace). After all, she was in the early stages of dementia, her daughter, who normally took care of her, was away for the weekend, and many senior citizens in the area had been targeted by a scam to get their money. Our amateur sleuths in this case are three recently-retired elementary school teachers: Liz, Thelma and Pat. They are three very different characters, all very carefully created and developed, each with characteristics that both endeared and, at times, frustrated me.

Barnabus’s Primary School who meet up every Thursday at the Thirsk Garden Centre café sharing gossip and tidbits about their lives and families. Often as I was reading, I was thinking about how much fun it would be to pull up a chair and join them at their table for a wee cup and a natter. The story is clearly well thought out with lots of characters to keep track of and plenty of subplots to keep the reader engaged.There must be a thing now with older amateur sleuth stories, as I’ve read more than I had expected to recently. Issues that elders will deal with such as, treatment of frail persons, possibility of dementia and the issues surrounding care, the vulnerability of older persons to be taken advantage of by scammers (not just bank fraud, but charging for jobs not needed or not completed), banks who don't want to help and those who have no children to help them.